Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Star Trek Tradition, Logic and the Needs of the Many.

Star Trek XI is now the second highest earner of Star Treks franchise with takings of $222.7 million in 31 days. This movie warped past the Wrath of Khan and has set its trajectory to overtake the reigning Star Trek epic of the universe held by Star Trek The Motion Picture. Star Trek I bagged $139,000,000 for Paramount which is a cool measure of success and a ton of money for 1979. You can bet your Trekkie dvds it won't take seven years for the next Star Trek movie to hit the big screens.

Logic dictates the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few or the one. Does it matter Star Trek XI messed with the Final Frontier? Yesss! and what a reaction its getting from the fans. Sure, Star Trek's space time continuum has been altered but judging from the figures, previews and reports from accross the internet, Star Trek XI is successfully reaching out to people boldly going where Trek hasn't been in years.

(Blashememy!!! I can hear horrified Trekkies gasping.) "Your'e crossing over to the dark side aren't you!!" but nooooo, I'd never do that! I'm just trying to be logical about this and remember its Spock Prime's fault we're in this fine mess int the first place. Just kidding, I'm skylarking now.

Image owner/creator: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

Star Trek has a lot of canon, rules and regulations known as "Trek" which can influence the eventual outcome of life and death in its timeline. For example, the Pon Far involves the Vucan Mating ceremony whereby Mr Spock is compelled to return home every seven years to purge his emotions. The poor vulchie will die unless he mates with a Vulcan chick or fights to the death with a suitor of T'pring's choice.

In any case, it really doesn't matter because Vulcans are born with superior strength and whoever is selected by T'Pring, is gonna get the spuds whacked out of him. Unfortunately she chose Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise to fight Spock and Mr spock HAD to engage him! "This is a fight to the death". warned T'Pau. "Do not interfere!!"

In this episode of Amok Time, we get to see the Vulcan's homeworld for the first time and an angry Spock who's clearly not himself. Stricken with the desperate need to contol his desires, a much beleagured Spock is in deep meditation preparing himself for the Kal-if-fee. It was'nt until after the challenge that the flawed human half in him was torn appart by remorse. These are the downfalls of living your life in the pursuit of absolute logic......

Image owner/creator: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

The Vulcan Ponn Farr ritual eliminates the deadly imbalance of toxins poisoning Spock's body only after the Vulcan has gone through hell (Burning of the blood) and ranting and raving like a complete lunatic but this is all perfectly normal for vulchies. In the end Spock is returned to his good old emotionless, logical self after his mating urges are quenched with the knowledge that his good friend and captain has been strangled to death by his very own hands.

Ever since Star Trek Nemises flopped at the box office in 2002 with only $43,254,409 to show for at home in the US, Star Trek has been in need of an additional generation of fans willing to give themselves over to an inspiring, action adventure with gratifying computer graphics, sound effects, lighting and movie sets essential to producing a rip-roaring action movie prequel with a stimulating and entertaining trek timeline. That time has arrived, Star Trek is back!

"Doctor, I shall be resigning my commission, of course..."
"Uh, Spock..."
"...so, I would appreciate your making the final arrangements."
"Spock, I..."
"Doctor, please, let me finish. There can be no excuse for the crime of which I'm guilty - I intend to offer no defense. Furthermore, I shall order Mr. Scott to take immediate command of this vessel."
"Don't you think you better check with me first?"
"Captain?!?! JIM!!!"

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The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT, is debuting the new Star Trek today and running it for the next few weeks in true IMAX. We’re reaching out to the most active Star Trek fan sites to invite you to come by if you live in the surrounding area. We know there is plenty of passionate discussion about how the film compares to the long history of the series, but we’d also like to know whether watching it on a full IMAX screen changes the experience in a fundamental way.

Now, you may be asking what Star Trek has to do with an aquarium. We actually play a variety of films in the evenings in our IMAX theater (and you can check out the updated schedule here: http://www.maritimeaquarium.org/imax.html), but there’s a particularly close tie-in between Star Trek and the work we do at the aquarium. For instance, many of you have likely noticed that the leadership of the Enterprise closely resembles naval infrastructure, and the parallels between naval exploration and space exploration runs throughout Star Trek history. From Khan’s quoting of Moby Dick to saving the whales in Star Trek VI, this is a thread that runs deep in the Star Trek story world. So, from the influence of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower on Roddenberry’s creation of Capt. Kirk to the many references to Jacques Cousteau (including not just the parallels to Capt. Picard but The Cousteau yacht itself), there’s no doubt that life on—and in—the water had a great influence on the development of Star Trek.

We feel true IMAX gives a whole new perspective on the Enterprise, and we’d love to know what you think. If you get a chance to stop by our theater and check out the film, drop me a line at jslevin@peppercom.com to let us know what you think.